


fatuity

by spookykingdomstarlight



Category: Star Wars (Marvel Comics), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Banter, Dubiously Redeemed Villains, Everybody is an Asshole Here, Ill-Conceived Everythings, M/M, Multi, Poe Dameron Has Bad Ideas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-09 21:39:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12897384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookykingdomstarlight/pseuds/spookykingdomstarlight
Summary: Poe Dameron has garbage taste in men.





	fatuity

**Author's Note:**

  * For [perlaret](https://archiveofourown.org/users/perlaret/gifts).



> Blame this one on perlaret having a birthday. Also, it’s vaguely connected with [conciliations](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9381743), which is another fic I wrote that is also entirely perlaret’s fault.

Poe watched as Terex leaned toward the mirror, squinting at his own reflection as though it had offended him or meant to do him harm. Poe could sympathize; he’d been offended by Terex’s face a time or two himself. “What the hell, man?” he called, pounding his fist against the wall outside the open ‘fresher door. Hanging off the frame, he leaned in slightly, head tilted. “You gonna be done primping anytime soon or should I just go ahead and give up on my dream of getting ready for work in a timely manner? You know I’m bad with disappointment. Better to know the expectation going in.”

If nothing else, the question got Terex to turn his head. His eyebrow rose almost to his severely-receded hairline and his mouth twisted into a disdainful frown as he inspected Poe from head to toe. Sniffing, he looked himself over in the mirror one last time and then pushed past Poe. Poe tried to stop Terex with an arm across the midsection—classic maneuver, guaranteed to see results—but all he got was a jostled shoulder instead. “Okay,” he said, exhaling quietly, refusing to concede confusion or hurt. More loudly, he added, “Thanks for clearing out!”

All he got for his trouble was the sound of Terex’s retreating footsteps and the swooshing sound of his door as it slid shut behind him. Which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn’t the worst exit Terex had ever made.

Rolling his eyes, Poe shook his head and gave himself a thorough once-over just to ensure he wouldn’t embarrass himself when he stepped outside. Trying to figure out Terex’s game was a losing proposition these days. It was easy back when his only goal was chasing Poe down while pretending he did it at the behest of his First Order cronies instead of for himself. Now that he had Poe, and in more ways than Poe was entirely comfortable admitting to, it was hard to know what Terex wanted or thought or why he did the things he did.

Better to ignore it, let him work this shit out for himself. Poe’d dated enough moody bastards in his life to know it wasn’t worth it to push.

Yeah.

Speaking of moody bastards he might’ve dated once upon a time…

He glanced at the cheap, duraplast chronometer permanently affixed to his mirror, a reminder of when he was younger and less disciplined and needed a bright, cheerful timer to keep him on track.

Time for that meeting with Ben kriffing Solo.

*

“No, no, no,” Poe said, climbing to his feet to pace the ten feet or so of space this particular room gave him to maneuver in. He _hated_ having conferences here. Too many chairs shoved under a too-large table. And worse, a gargantuan, broody Wampa of a man who took up way too much room. Poe wasn’t given to being intimidated, not by Ben Solo at least, but he was sure Ben had signed up to use this room just for this reason. “You do realize credits don’t actually grow on trees, right? Like, you actually have to earn them? We can’t just purchase new ships because you think they’re better.”

The fact that Poe would’ve loved nothing more than to buy every damned piece of equipment Ben wanted was neither here nor there. In the cockpit, Ben wasn’t Poe. And the Force couldn’t make Ben into Poe even if Ben sometimes clearly desperately wanted it to—much to Poe’s constant and endless delight. Victory was so much sweeter when it came at the expense of a guy with a chip on his shoulder and a superpower or two up his sleeve. But. _But_. Ben had taste and he knew good equipment when he saw it.

Arms crossed, Ben stared up at Poe, unimpressed. And Poe had to give it to him, he gave as good as Terex did in that department. To the point where Poe felt an uncomfortable twist in his stomach at the sight of it. _What the fuck is wrong with you, Dameron?_

Poe remembered a time when he loved disappointing Ben; it had been one of his favorite pastimes. He looked back fondly on it and patted it on its metaphorical head and scritched it behind its ears and sighed, mournful. Yeah, Poe missed those days. Would make today a hell of a lot easier. “I can’t okay this.”

Ben tilted his head and brushed his fingers through his hair to scrub at the base of his neck. Which, fuck him. He knew how Poe felt about that. “You can okay it. You just don’t want to.”

Poe threw up his hands. “I don’t have the budget for it.” And oh, how he hated saying those words. Budget. Ugh. Budgets were for people far more uncool than Poe. Budgets were for The Man and Poe hated that he’d become that guy.

He pinched the bridge of his nose.

He just wanted to fly. He didn’t want to be the guy figuring out how to make that happen.

General Organa would be laughing at him right now if she was here. Fortunately for him, she was elsewhere on the base, no doubt regretting her own life because of whatever meeting _she_ was currently in. That thought was the only thing that got him through the next couple of minutes. Misery loved company.

Huffing, he brushed his hand over his eyes before looking at Ben again. “Listen,” he said, annoyed at how quickly he was folding, “you find me some discretionary funds, you can have it, okay?”

Ben was a Solo; and he was an Organa. He’d find the discretionary funds. There wasn’t a doubt in Poe’s mind on that score. He might as well have said yes and just handed him the credits himself.

When did Poe become such a pushover? There was just no way of knowing.

Ben’s chair scraped across the floor as he pushed himself to his feet to try to make a quick escape now that he had permission. He ducked his head, trying to hide the pleased smile he wore, but Poe saw it anyway and it did the same thing it always did: give Poe a stomachache.

Poe waited to speak until Ben reached the door, palm raised to engage the motion sensor. “Oh, and Ben?” he said, gleaning what little payback he could from this encounter. There were, he’d learned, perks to being the man. “You’re responsible for all parts requisitions that come through over the next three months. All of them. Even Jess’s.”

Ben had the good grace to frown. “Two months and she requisitions her own.”

“ _Six_ ,” Poe said, his best ‘don’t mess with me’ voice firmly in place. “And you’re repairing every scratch she leaves on a droid in that time.”

“Kriff,” Ben said, stalking out into the hallway. Poe followed. “ _Fine_.”

“Better,” Poe couldn’t help saying to Ben’s retreating back, but all he got in return was a gesture that would’ve been deemed rude in thirty different systems across the Outer Rim and then some. Laughing, Poe turned the other direction, heading toward the airfield. Ben had a lot of work to do and that meant he’d be out of Poe’s hair. “Thank you!”

Poe was happy about that. Really happy.

But probably not as happy as he should have been.

*

Terex didn’t always come out to the hangar bay, but when he did, it was usually while Poe was in some sort of compromising position. Like now. While he was bent over a datapad with a stylus in his mouth as he tried to finish a— _shudder_ —incident report.

“My, my,” Terex said, stepping into Poe’s office without so much as a by-your-leave and startling him as a result. Downside of being the man: you weren’t always looking out for danger. “You do know how to make bureaucracy scintillating, I’ll give you that.”

Kicking out his chair, he quickly dropped into it and glared up at Terex, waving at the opposite seat. “If you miss red tape, I could throw you back to the First Order no problem.” He didn’t mean it, of course, but the twitch of displeasure Terex gave away made the suggestion worth it. Besides, the Resistance could more than hold its own on the paperwork front. If Terex missed it, they could fix that here. Poe glanced up at him, really looking. “Did you need something?” he asked, a little softer. He actually wasn’t displeased to see Terex. If nothing else, it broke up an otherwise mostly monotonous day, even with an ‘incident’ hanging in the middle of it.

“They like it too much. It’s just not the same without that little furrow of disgust you get right here,” Terex said instead of answering Poe’s question, pressing his index finger between his eyebrows as he kicked the heels of his boots up onto the scuffed-up corner of the desk. “And no, I just—”

Poe had an open door policy about this office—everyone was always welcome, especially if they were there to pull him out of it—but sometimes that policy came back and bit him in the ass. Especially when a well-known scuffle of shoes announced the approach of…

Terex turned and sniffed—so much like Ben it wasn’t even funny—and if Poe hadn’t been working on a headache already, he would be now. Terex’s boots hit the floor. “Oh,” he said, disdainful, “it’s you.”

“Terex,” Ben answered, equally disdainful, his voice and stance stiff and awkward. Well, more stiff and awkward than usual.

There were a lot of ways Terex could answer and Poe knew every single one of them were inappropriate. “Hey,” he said, rounding the desk. Grabbing Terex by the shoulder, he squeezed. Hard. No need to get Ben going with whatever new and terrible nickname would wind up falling out of Terex’s mouth. “Ben, hi. Did you need something?” _Please say no and leave. Please say no and leave. Please say no and leave._

Ben looked confused for a minute, which was just great. “No, I just…”

Poe’s eyes fluttered shut and he dragged in a deep breath, counted to three. “There sure is a lot of hanging around my office today for a bunch of people who don’t need me for anything. Should I leave you two alone to bond over that fact?”

Honestly, that would probably solve a lot of Poe’s problems for him. Just let them—do whatever they wanted to do. Duel. Fisticuffs. Fight to the death. They both just gave Poe identical stink eyes instead, which wasn’t nearly as interesting and didn’t solve Poe’s problem.

_You know,_ he thought, _you have a lot in common. Maybe you should date instead_.

Terex’s eyes narrowed like he knew just what Poe was thinking and didn’t like it one bit. “Funnily enough, I’ve already made one bad decision on that count. I don’t need to make another.” From the brief widening of his eyes, it was clear that Poe was the bad decision being discussed here.

And he’d apparently said that out loud.

So Poe did what he always did: he grinned and he winked. Own up to it, be audacious. That was his motto. It’d gotten him this far in his life. He was certain it would see him through the rest of it.

Besides, the red flush on Ben’s face was worth it. Probably even Terex agreed with that. The double-take he gave Ben was proof enough of that.

“We’re in it together now, bud. It’ll take more than a few bad decisions to change that,” Poe said, unnecessary given the fact that they hadn’t already destroyed one another. Probably he should have been embarrassed by the slip up, but, well. That would solve a lot of his problems, too. If they, you know, _dated_. Either with him or without him. But preferably with him.

He was, after all, a lot more fun than both of them put together. And he could only imagine how hilarious it would be to see them trying to get along.

Terex climbed to his feet, offered Poe an inscrutable look, and said, “We’ll talk about this later.”

Which—wasn’t what Poe was expecting to hear. Not that he was expecting to hear anything. Ben’s dropped jaw indicated his own credulity was being strained. Terex didn’t help with that either. When he slipped past Ben, he placed his fingers on Ben’s chin and urged him to close his mouth. “This whole troubled teen aesthetic you’re working is tired.”

Ben looked like he expected Terex to say something else, but Poe, who knew better, wasn’t at all surprised when Terex added nothing more, abandoning Poe to the flash of smoldering resentment he left in his wake. Sure, he got to leave behind the wreckage of this conversation. But what about Poe?

Poe shrugged and pretended like he wasn’t jealous of how quickly Terex cut and run. “He calls me a sad space-jock sometimes.”

“Charming.”

“He has his moments.”

“You and he are really—?”

“Yeah.” And though Poe really couldn’t explain it, he was happy with what they had. And despite Terex’s sneering, Poe knew he felt the same way. They sniped at each other and fucked around while sniping at each other and sometimes went on missions—all while sniping at each other. It worked for them. Poe had a good time anyway. Presumably Terex did, too.

“So your taste in men really hasn’t improved, has it?”

Poe snorted and shook his head. Ben was evidence enough of that. “I guess not.”

Ben pursed his lips and frowned, thoughtful, his head nodding absently. He glanced back out toward the hangar where Terex was still visible as he strolled toward the base entrance. “Huh. And you…?” He pointed at himself, then out at Terex.

“Fuck if I know.” The less Poe said about that, he assumed, the better.

“You realize he’s completely incompetent, right?”

_Yeah_ , Poe thought, _him and you and the whole First Order_. “That thought has crossed my mind.” _He’d probably say the same about you_.

Still, it wasn’t a no. Which meant that Ben wasn’t opposed. Of course, that meant nothing at all, because Poe was with Terex and he’d prioritize that, of course. But he had an answer here and that was—something. Interesting. Maybe. Just a little bit.

“Well,” Ben said, clearing his throat. “I’m going to…”

“Go?”

“Yeah.”

“Good idea.” Poe gestured back at his desk, noticed the dusting of dirt left behind on the corner where Terex had put up his boot. “I still have work to do.” Not that he’d be getting much of it _done_ at this point. Mr. ‘We’ll Talk About This Later’ made sure of that.

Somehow he was certain General Organa never had this sort of problem figuring out her love life.

He kind of regretted not following in her theoretical footsteps on that count.

*

“You like him,” Terex said, sweeping into Poe’s quarters like he owned them which—was _not_ true, but certainly less untrue than Poe might have liked under the circumstances. They’d have to talk about this, too; Poe hated letting Terex have the upper hand simply because he startled Poe with a grand, dramatic entrance. “You were with him before.”

Before. Before the war. Before Kylo. Yeah, they’d been together before. It never worked quite right. Terex knew that. “I never kept that a secret from you.”

“Was it serious?”

Poe arched an eyebrow. Poe didn’t do serious. He didn’t do casual either. He just let shit be what it was and didn’t examine it too closely. A small, wise part of him—a part he rarely listened to if he was being honest—suggested that maybe this was why he was finding himself in this situation now. “I’m not really into labeling these things. We spent a lot of time together. I cared about him. That’s about all there is to say about it.”

If he conveniently glossed over what happened during Ben’s time with the First Order, well, that was his business. And Ben was doing everything he could to rectify that, same as Terex. There was no point drudging it up now. Poe never let himself live in the past. He wasn’t about to let Terex or Ben screw that up for him.

Terex rolled his eyes. “He’s not bad looking.”

“No.” _He was definitely never that_.

“He could use a haircut.”

“You jealous?”

Terex pinned him with a glare, but otherwise remained silent and still in the center of the floor.

“Wait.” Poe pushed himself to the edge of his bunk and peered up. “Is this why you’ve been hogging my ‘fresher in the mornings?”

Terex’s jaw clenched, a yes if Poe’d ever seen one; he would’ve laughed if he didn’t feel vaguely guilty and insulted. He hadn’t intended to make Terex feel… whatever he was feeling. Inadequate or whatever.

“That’s… man, I wouldn’t do that,” Poe said, “whatever it is you’re thinking.” He gestured between himself and Terex. “You don’t have to worry. I like the mohawk, okay?”

Poe couldn’t quite decide if the twitch of Terex’s mouth was displeasure or displeased amusement, but he counted it as a win either way.

“Besides,” Poe added, now that he’d assuaged Terex’s sudden and unexpected display of vanity. “You don’t hate him and I think you might kind of see my point on this one. You wouldn’t be troubling yourself if you didn’t. But you know me. If you said the word…”

If he said the word, they’d never speak about it again. And there wouldn’t be any more flirtatious slip-ups. There were only so many ways Poe was willing to be an asshole; this wasn’t one of them. He’d already made that mistake by opening his mouth today. It wouldn’t happen again.

Terex growled a little. “He’s a spoiled child.”

Poe reached for him, pulled him close, hoped this was enough. “And I’m not?”

Terex’s hand wrapped around his wrist. “Only a little bit. Sometimes.”

He didn’t often go for physical affection with Terex, Poe didn’t. Mostly because he wasn’t big on it and Poe could, in most circumstances, take or leave it as long as he could punch a shoulder or two, rope an arm around a neck, do a few other things that might make a person blush if they were so inclined, like Terex was. But Terex wasn’t big on hugs and hand-holding and Poe was okay with that even though he liked both of those things. But something about the dissatisfaction on Terex’s face made Poe want to do something about it, make a gesture of some sort, one a little out of the ordinary.

Swallowing, he wrapped his fingers around Terex’s hand and pulled him forward. “You’re an idiot.” He said the words kindly, not a hint of sarcasm to be found in them. It might’ve been gentle, if someone wanted to call it anything at all. “I’m not suddenly going to come to my senses, you jackass.”

Terex huffed, but something of Poe’s certainty must’ve gotten through to him, because his eyes widened, a little more vulnerable than usual. Which put him about on par with how normal people expressed their emotions. “You never had a sense in your life that you didn’t throw away. Pardon me if I’m not comforted.”

It was as close to agreement as Poe was likely to get.

Poe grinned. “That’s why you should trust me, babe,” he said, pulling Terex into a quick kiss that led to something more. Terex might not have liked hugs and he might not have liked hand-holding, but Poe had other means to demonstrate his feelings without having to drudge up words that wouldn’t sound terribly sincere coming out of his mouth anyway.

Afterward, Terex ran his fingers through Poe’s hair and he relaxed for the first time in what felt like ages and he said, “You have awful taste in men, you know.”

“Oh, I know.”

And that was a win.

*

Poe woke to an empty bed, not all that unusual, but unfortunate all the same. He’d wanted—he wasn’t sure what he’d wanted. It wasn’t like he’d expected morning snuggles or anything, but he wouldn’t have minded the chance to talk it over a little more. He was uncomfortable with the idea of Terex thinking he was spending all his time thinking about Ben, wanting Ben, instead of him.

It was a lot more complicated than that.

And a lot less, too.

By the time he was dressed and ready for the day, he’d decided Terex must’ve gotten an early start of it. The ‘fresher was cold, not even a little bit humid from its use, and dry. Curious that Terex could’ve gotten past him without Poe waking up, but the man was mysterious and sneaky. If anyone could, it was him. Letting it go, he bit back a yawn and made his way to the hangar. Terex would find him eventually.

At least, he tried to go to the hangar.

Stopping at the mess to grab a handful of protein cubes and some water might’ve been a bad idea if that was his goal. Because as soon as he stepped into the room, still relatively empty, he saw Ben and Terex sitting across from one another, the back of Ben’s dark-haired head instantly recognizable. Irritation flared in Terex’s eyes, instantly obvious, too, as he lifted his gray eyes to Poe’s. Whether it was because of Ben or because Poe had caught them together was up in the air. Either way, Poe was curious.

And curiosity was never a good thing, not when there were two prickly people involved.

Either way, the hangar could wait.

Waving jauntily, he strolled past the pair and grabbed a tray to fill with real food, fruit, a bowl of grains, juice.

So much for the protein cubes and water. This was much, much more interesting.

Sitting next to Terex, he smiled at Ben. “Should I be worried?” he asked, popping a piece of melon into his mouth and chewing thoughtfully. His eyes drifted between Terex and Ben, back and forth, as he waited for one of them to break. “You’re not plotting my demise, are you?”

“Not yet,” Ben said, a little dark. But it was still early yet. He was always a bit grumpier before he’d had some caf and enough time to resign himself to the day. At Poe’s side, Terex huffed in equally dark amusement. If Poe were a more normal person, he’d have been worried. Instead, he was pleased. If they wanted to bond over plots against Poe, that was their prerogative.

It wasn’t like either of them would follow through on it.

Probably.

“Well,” Poe replied, because he never met a situation he didn’t want to push further, “that’s nice. Let me know when you do.” They should be happy with him though. If he really wanted to push, he’d outright ask them what the hell they were doing within five meters of one another. As it was, Terex sat with such rigid formality that Poe knew he knew he’d been caught and Ben wouldn’t give Poe a second glance so he knew he’d been caught, too. By rights, Poe could pester them about this. The fact that they were waiting for just that was the only reason Poe decided against it.

Let them wonder. Let them worry.

There was no better punishment than waiting for the shoe to drop.

“Don’t let me interrupt you,” he said, cheery, making his point by shoveling the nearly tasteless goop he’d chosen into his mouth. He ate quickly, too, because he was a lot nicer than either of them would give him credit for if left to their own devices and decided he’d made his point well enough. He’d caught them. And he was releasing them.

They’d both, of course, realize they owed him for his discretion.

Hopefully they’d pay up with an explanation later. They certainly weren’t giving one up now considering how silent both of them had grown. It was nice, in its way, if only for the novelty of it. Most of the time, they had plenty to say to Poe about just about everything. At all times. They didn’t even need a reason to talk to him. And yet, silence now. So unusual. Poe could get used to it.

Finishing his meal, he pushed himself to his feet and smiled at both of them again. His hand clamped down on Terex’s shoulder, his thumb rubbing deep circles into his skin, warm through the heavy linen of his shirt. “Have fun, you two.” He pointed at Ben. “And don’t get into trouble, yeah?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ben answered stiffly. “Terex and I were just—”

Terex shook his head and frowned.

“—having breakfast.” It was a poor finish and the twisting of Ben’s mouth proved that he knew it, too. The careful, deliberate lifting of his chin only sealed the deal.

Poe’s mouth twitched and he had to cough into his shoulder to cover the laugh that threatened to spill from his mouth. He could have said something, maybe should have, but instead he nodded, entirely innocent. Dumping his tray, he offered them one last glance as he left. Interestingly, their heads were already bent together, like they were conspiring. He couldn’t see Ben from this angle, but Terex looked pretty intent about something. Poe wasn’t above admitting he liked it a little bit when Terex got that intense, but he was definitely above admitting it might’ve made him jealous to have that attention directed at Ben.

Well, no. Not jealous maybe.

Just excluded.

Shaking his head, he put both of them from his mind.

Whatever they were up to, they wouldn’t be able to keep it secret for long. All Poe had to do was have a little patience.

*

BB-8 bleated at Poe from the hangar bay floor, his casing clattering as he rolled back and forth. His dome remained remarkably steady, twisting slightly to keep Poe in his sights. Peering down from his place on the S-foil, he said, “What’s wrong, Beebs?” In response, BB-8 chattered away at him, leaving him scratching the back of his head and wincing as he left behind a grease stain. “I don’t know where they’re at.”

BB-8 chirped.

“I’m not too worried about it,” he said, but now that he thought about it, they had been rather quiet all day, Ben and Terex. Far longer than Poe’d anticipated. The chronometer on the wall blinked the time in white, soothing light. His teeth worried at his bottom lip and a frown pulled at one corner of his mouth. He sucked thoughtfully at the inside of his cheek and shrugged, fake as all get-out. No doubt they were getting up to some kind of trouble, but it wasn’t Poe’s business until they brought it to him. Whatever was going on between them was probably Poe’s fault anyway given he’d opened his big mouth in the first place.

All he could do was wait and see how it all played out.

And hope it didn’t blow up in all of their faces.

Though he picked up his spanner again, his heart just wasn’t in it any longer. Nor was his mind. But he could pretend with the best of them.

“Maybe you should go keep an eye on them,” Poe finally suggested after his attention drifted for the third time. At least he could feel safe knowing that at least someone would be there if they tried to burn down the base or General Organa tossed them both in the brig. BB-8 beeped in resigned acceptance—Poe wouldn’t need him to help with repairs for quite a while yet, as Poe was still laying down the groundwork for BB-8’s part—and trundled off. Poe followed his progress all the way to the door on the far side of the building and shook his head.

It was never a good thing when his two favorite troublemakers were too quiet.

When it was both of them at the same time…? Poe kind of wished BB-8 hadn’t said anything about it. Because now he was going to worry.

Sighing, he pulled the next panel free, mourning the formerly pristine surface, and pulled out the singed wiring inside. Clipping and stripping the damaged wires, he refused to give into his thoughts anymore. He’d already spent way too many of them on the two men in question. They would do whatever they were going to do and Poe would have to clean up whatever he had to clean up and things would hopefully go back to normal again soon.

Maybe Poe would learn to stop putting his foot in his mouth somewhere along the way, too.

That would be nice.

That would be really nice.

*

He finished up his part of the repairs before BB-8 could return and so he had a lot of options for how to proceed: go find BB-8, go find Terex or Ben or both, pester General Organa into sending him to the worst, most terrifying war zone in the entire sector and hope he got shot down so he wouldn’t have to deal with any of this nonsense. The sky was the limit. Instead of any of those, all of them perfectly plausible and effective things to do, he leaned back against the transparisteel plating of his cockpit, one leg hitched up while the other stretched before him down the nose of the ship.

He closed his eyes and laced his fingers beneath the back of his head.

It wasn’t relaxing exactly, but he could pretend it was until he actually did relax.

At least until he heard stomping—two sets of boots if his hearing was accurate—and the tell-tale skittering of BB-8’s body against the floor.

Poe sighed and bit back a smile. If he didn’t go looking for trouble, it always found its way to him somehow. He screwed his eyes more firmly shut and relaxed his body as forcefully as he could. He was cool. It was fine. Whatever it was that Ben and Terex wanted—and Poe was certain it was them—it would be fine. This was what he’d wanted after all.

He took a deep breath. In and out. In and out.

Only once the clattering footsteps stopped did he open his eyes and push himself up. He smiled and pretended he felt even a modicum of confidence in himself and this situation. “Hello, boys.”

Ben looked thunderous, his eyes flashing while Terex stood at his side with something that looked almost like satisfaction on his face. Neither of those facts told Poe anything about the state of this situation. Terex would look satisfied even after mutilating his own face if he thought it would hurt someone else even worse. So his satisfaction and Ben’s anger didn’t mean Terex had won any great victory here.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, as though he hadn’t wondered all day just where else they might have been instead. _Casual, casual, keep it casual._ “There something I can do for you?” He grinned, pleased with himself for his self-control, and fought back the urge to push his luck as far as it would go.

“You can go back in time and undo this mess,” Ben said.

“I’m sure I can’t,” Poe said, “but if you’re gonna demand impossible things…” He eyed them both and only now noted the pink that spread across both of their cheeks. Another thing they had in common. They couldn’t hide their embarrassment worth a damn. Interesting. Crab-walking his way toward the edge of the fuselage—he really should have thought about this before staying up here, it wasn’t very elegant—he swung around to the ladder hanging off the side of the ship. “Just what have you two been up to anyway?”

Ben immediately glared at Poe’s boots, while Terex did the opposite and glared directly at Poe’s face, his lips most specifically. It wasn’t the most scathing look Poe had been on the receiving end of, but it wasn’t the least either. He waggled his eyebrows and stepped toward both of them. “You don’t have to look quite so glum about it.” He shrugged with one shoulder and clapped them both on the arms. “Whatever it is you’re glum about anyway.”

Terex’s mouth twitched in displeasure and Ben shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. He only grew more red as moments passed. At least Terex merely grew paler now. At least some of his embarrassment had faded. That was nice; Poe might get some answers if so. “Sometimes I hate you, Poe Dameron,” Terex said. He bit his lip to hide a sneer.

Wouldn’t be the first time he heard that. Winking, he said, “Love you, too, babe.”

At that, Ben scoffed.

“Jealous?” Poe asked. It was, perhaps, a little mean, but if it would get one or both of them move on this—thing, Poe was willing to risk it. They’d pulled a hell of a lot of evil shit on one another—some of them more than others, and yet they all remained standing and relatively unscathed. A little meanness never went entirely amiss.

“No,” Ben insisted, his gaze darting toward Terex. Which was interesting to say the least. It gave Poe hope anyway that they might all come out of this happier than they went into it. Ben and Terex might not know it yet, but he bet they’d figure it out once they realized they’d be allied against him nine times out of ten when it came to just about everything Poe liked or wanted to do. Wouldn’t stop him, of course, but Terex would at least have some backup.

“You’ve been talking,” Poe prodded, ready to move this along to whatever dramatic conclusion awaited them. As he looked around the hangar, he was merely glad that it seemed like everyone else had packed it in for the night. Scuttlebutt already favored Poe more than Poe was entirely comfortable with. This would—merely add to it. Even without witnesses. If Poe was right.

Force, what will General Organa think?

“We’ve been…” Terex’s nose wrinkled. “…talking.”

“You don’t even like one another,” Poe pointed out. It was, of course, a weak argument. It wasn’t like Poe liked them all the time either and he still talked to them plenty.

“He’s… tolerable,” Ben said, like it hurt him physically to admit as much. He looked like he wanted to say something else, something complimentary to Poe, but he refrained. One day, he might actually find out what it was, but for right now, he let it lie in favor of getting them to their point, whatever it was.

“What Solo said,” Terex added. He crossed his arms. “Unfortunately.”

Ah.

Okay.

As far as romantic admissions went, it left a lot to be desired, but Poe could see the hint of sincerity in their gazes, the deep discomfort that suggested they did kind of see something in the other that might’ve been similar to the things Poe saw in them. He could have forced them to elucidate a little more, but it wasn’t necessary and Poe wasn’t quite that sadistic.

Vistas dawned, like climbing the sky in low-atmo, offering to Poe so many things he never thought he’d be allowed to have. He’d missed Ben and he… loved Terex and between those two things were the very real probability that he’d end up with neither. But he didn’t think about that now, not with all the possibilities spreading themselves out before him.

“Unfortunately,” Poe said, soft, pressing a kiss first against Terex’s lips and then Ben’s. It was like coming home, like entering the cockpit, like being offered every damned thing he ever cared about all at once and all wrapped up in danger and intrigue, the shit that made life exciting.

They’d be terrible together, he knew that with a certainty.

And he couldn’t wait to find out how much fun it would be despite that.


End file.
